It is a dilemma enough to test the resolve of any parent determined not to
choose a favourite child: who to support when your two sons are racing
against each other on the world stage.

Helen Hynd faced this conundrum last summer in Berlin when her sons Sam, 21, and 17-year-old Oliver took on the continent – and each other – in the Paralympic European Championships. Racing in the 400 metres freestyle, Sam took gold and Ollie silver but their mother admitted she wished it had been a “dead heat”.

“If they could have both won that would have been fantastic,” she said. “I was well behind both of them.”

She will face an even bigger challenge with the pair competing against each other again, this time in the London Paralympics.

Sam is well aware of the strain she is under, although he cannot resist a sly dig at his mother’s expense. “I think she might have a nervous breakdown by then,” he joked.

This has been a summer to remember for sporting siblings, with memories of Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee’s heroics in the Olympic triathlon – both claiming medals, and sharing a heartfelt embrace after they burst through the finish line – still fresh. But the exploits of the Hynd brothers have an added poignancy which even Yorkshire’s famous duo cannot boast.

Sam and Oliver suffer from neuromuscular myopathy, a condition that severely weakens their legs – and occasionally their spirits.

“Sometimes you can get frustrated,” admits Sam. “Don’t get me wrong: everyone who has a disability would love to be able-bodied and it certainly makes it harder to get around in terms of mobility: long distances and stairs aren’t easy to deal with. But I’ve not know any different so it’s just normal life.”

An ability to remain resolute in the face of adversity and treat disability as a spur to greater achievements, not a barrier, is a defining trait of many Paralympians, and these remarkable siblings are no different.

“It is a very good motivator,” Sam continues. “I think, ‘I might have a few problems with this and that but I’m going to overcome them’. You learn to deal with it and you develop coping strategies. You learn that you do have some limits but it is all about pushing those limits.”

Swimming can also help on a more practical level, doubling up as pain management. “It is the best physio they can offer so it is great that we do it,” said Oliver, who makes a point of training with non-disabled athletes near his home in Mansfield. “It has really helped, especially training with able-bodied athletes. Some people like to train with other disabled athletes but I enjoy this because it drives you on a lot more.”

They might be exceptionally driven athletes, but there have been rocky times on the road to London. The most alarming of all came in 2010 when Sam was involved in a serious car crash, slashing his right wrist and bruising his back and spine. It took him out of the pool for months, sapping his energy and motivation.

“It was quite hard because I’m used to swimming all the time,” he recalled. “It was frustrating, wanting to get back to full mobility and health, but once you get there you want to make the most of it.”

The family, though, had already provided the motivation he needed to bounce back: a brother who had become determined to dethrone him in the pool.

Sam was the only Hynd brother competing at the 2008 Games in Beijing, where he won gold in the 400m freestyle, but his brother was watching from the sidelines, plotting a move. Now he was ready to challenge his brother, claiming second spot in Berlin, his first international competition. In London the brothers will meet in the 400m freestyle & 200m individual medley.

But for all the rivalry, Ollie is clearly in awe of his older brother, letting Sam answer most of the questions throughout this interview and shyly deflecting any suggestions he might one day beat him.

His brother has no such concerns. Unlike the diffident Ollie and their determinedly neutral mother, Sam is certain which Hynd is going to perform best.

“We’re both going to say ‘me’ at the same time,” he jokes, before adding more seriously: “It is quite difficult to get your head around, the fact that you are going up against your brother. If you’d asked me who I’d been racing in four years’ time, it wouldn’t have been Ollie.

"It is something we didn’t ever see happening, but it has. Times change and it’s good. Ollie has got someone to beat, and I’ve got someone to stay ahead of. That is what sport should be about.”

And if the unthinkable happens and the younger Hynd does prevail, could Sam cope with the trauma?

“I won’t hold any grudges,” he laughs. “These things happen in sport, regardless of who you are: best friends, partner, sibling. It is sport. At the end of the day, it is all about the time on the clock. When it is all done and dusted in the pool, you go out and you leave that behind regardless of the result. There is life afterwards.”